1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to the field of animal husbandry and, more particularly, the invention is applicable to an identification system for identifying individual animals and to a means for regulating their feed depending upon the individual dietary requirement.
2. Brief Description of the Prior Art
Generally, in the raising of certain types of livestock such as in the practice of dairy farming and beef production, it is often desired to feed particular animals certain supplemental feeds at particular times during their growth or milk producing cycle. For instance, at certain periods of the animal's development, particular diets and amounts of feed are an advantage. Also, in milk production, certain periods of the animal's milk producing cycle requires supplemental feeds in order to obtain maximum production.
It is the common practice in modern dairy and beef farms to confine the animals in feed lots wherein the animals are fed hay, fodder, or other conventional feeds and are not permitted to have access to natural pasture. In the feed lot manner of raising cows and cattle, for example, the ability to provide supplemental feed to selected animals is particularly advantageous.
Several attempts have been made to automate the feeding of such animals. To optimize milk yield in dairy cows, automated computer systems are being utilized to collect data on each animal and to automatically dispense feed to each animal. The amount of feed dispensed to a particular animal depends on its age, its health, and its stage in the lactation cycle and, hence, it is necessary to identify each such animal. Numerous devices are known for enabling the visual identification of dairy animals including ear tags, neckbands and chains, tailbands and blank markers. However, such visual identification of animals requires the manual entry of identification data into the computer system of the proper identifying code which is both expensive and subject to error.
Automatic animal identification systems have updated the visual and manual systems. However, these include a passive transponder which is attached to, or implanted in, the animal. This transponder is triggered when the animal passes through an archway of energized coils. When thus triggered, the transponder transmits a unique signal or code to a receiver which identifies the animal. Difficulties and problems have been encountered with such automated systems which stem from their high cost, size, and susceptibility to noise and other severe environmental conditions which interfere with the identification code and the sensing thereof.
Therefore, a longstanding need has existed to provide a novel animal identification system and means for controlling feed for a particular animal which is simple to use, economical to manufacture, and does not require visual observation of the feeding procedure, manual entry of data into books and records, and which will automatically identify the animal as well as dispense feed in accordance with the needs of the particular animal.